Aviation Markets ― Studies in Competition and Regulatory Reform

Aviation Markets: Studies in Competition and Regulatory Reform is a collection of 17 papers selected from David Starkie's extensive writings over the last 25 years. Previously published material has been extensively edited and adapted, and combined with new material, published here for the first time. The book is divided into five sections, each featuring an original overview chapter, to better establish the background and also explain the papers' wider significance including, wherever appropriate, their relevance to current policy issues. These papers have been selected to illustrate a significant theme that has been relatively neglected thus far in both aviation and industrial economics: the role of the market and its interplay with the development of economic policy in the context of a dynamic but partly price regulated industry. The result provides a strong flavour of how market mechanisms, and particularly competition, can operate to successfully resolve policy issues. The book will be of interest to academics and those engaged in the formulation of aviation policy, such as public administrators and consultants, as well as those working in the aviation industry. It is also relevant to economic studies in a more general context, particularly to students and practitioners in industrial organisation economics, including those studying and researching the public utility industries.

David Starkie is a senior associate of Case Associates, London. During the last 20 years he has been a director of several economic consultancies and undertaken work for both private and public sector clients including: the CAA, IATA, European Commission, BAA plc, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Qantas, Air New Zealand. He has worked extensively on the regulation of airports in the UK, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, and since early 2001 has been economic adviser to the Commission for Aviation Regulation, the regulator for Irish airports. More recently, he was on the CAA's panel of advisers for its review of the NATS price cap. Apart from a two-year contract with the Western Australian government, when he served as deputy to the Director-General of Transport, he followed a mainly academic career until 1985 and was, latterly, Professorial Fellow in the Department of Economics at the University of Adelaide and Research Associate at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, London. During his career he has also served on a number of government committees and has advised select committees of the House of Commons on more than a dozen inquiries covering wide-ranging subjects, including: airline CRSs, US/UK aviation bi-laterals, and both UK and EU aviation policies. A graduate and post-graduate of the London School of Economics, he is a member of the Royal Economic Society and the author of many papers and books. He has been co-editor of the Journal of Transport Economics and Policy since 1997.